X-Men 3..... I liked it.

This Memorial Day, I took the boys to see the latest (and last?) installment of the X-Men movie series. I was a little nervous about this movie. In general, as a movie, I really liked X3. It was full of action and the story was good. Plus, this film added two of my favs to the X-Men movie mix: The Juggernaut and Kitty Pryde. I always liked the Juggernaut as a bad guy. The unstoppable force. It was a great book when they put Juggernaut up against the Blog (the immovable object). Kitty Pryde was a bit of a highschool crush for me. I know she's a comic book character, but I didn't get much play back in my comic reading day. Also, Kelsey Grammer play the Beast very well. They did a good job with that character. Another thing that I liked about all of the X-Men movies, is that they all kept a certain distance from the comic books. Yes, there are some similarities in the plot lines, but the movie makers never completely stole whole stories from the pages of the Marvel Comics. Now, as a fan of the comic book, there are a few things about X3 that did NOT like (If you have not seen thios movie, you may not want to read the following ...SPOILERS!!!:

1. Magneto and Mystique were made human. If they killed them it would be one thing, but to strip these two bad ass mutants of their powers is criminal.
2. Cyclops was killed in the first half hour of the movie. He was an original member of the X-Men. How can you just kill him off like that?
3. Mr. Multiple (Multiple Man?) was a bad guy. If memory serves, he was one of the good guys on the X-Factor team.
4. Rogue took the cure. She is one of my favs from the comic book. Of course, the movie makers took alot of liberties with this character throughout the films, but she was such a powerful mutant and they never really scratched the surface of her potential.
5. Professor X was killed. Yeah, he died in the comic books, and he was brought back, but to see him get killed so easily kinda bothered me. I guess the movie makers were pulling out all of the stops trying to make this film shocking and dark.

As I said, all in all this was a good movie to watch. I'm sure that comic book purists may have several problems with it, but I will definately buy the DVD.

We're gonna have a party....or try at least

In light of all of the shitty things that have been going on this month: Jessica's grandma and mom passed away and my grandma is expected to pass at any time now, we have decided that it is more important than ever to celebrate something good this month. If you are not aware, my sweet little girl is turning one this Thursday. We've been planning a party for her on this Sunday for months. Rather than cancelling or postponing the event, we feel it is important that we celebrate something happy. Anyone that knows us and reads this post is welcome. The more the merrier is what I feel. We are kicking the party off at 12:00 this Sunday. We'll have food and drink. Come make merry with us.

Thank you to everyone that has kept us in their thoughts during this difficult time. We are doing OK and will make it through this. We have great friends and family. Thanks.

Call your mom. Tell her that you love her.

I'm sure that most of you are unaware, but Thursday morning on her way to work, Jessica's mom, Sue, was killed in a car accident. We are doing as well as is expected, but it is rough going. I don't tell you this because I want sympathy. I tell you all this because it is important that your loved ones know that they are loved. Thankfully, Jess had just talked to her mom Wednesday night and told her that she loved her. Sue was on her way to work when the other driver ran a red light. Your thoughts and prayers are welcome. Please, call you mom, dad, brother, spouse, kids, whatever, and tell them that you love them. You never know when something like this could happen. To all my friends reading this, I love you all.

Things To Look Forward To

there's lots of things for me to look forward to in the next few weeks. This Saturday, I am hosting a poker game (starts at 7:00 if you are interested). I enjoy poker quite a bit. I wish I could play it more often than I do. Maybe now that my bowling league is done, I can get into more games. I'm also taking the weekend off so that I can get my garden started. Sure, that's alot of work, but it's more fun than sitting at my computer all day. Next weekend, We will celebrate Alydia's first birthday. Her actual birthday is Thursday the 25th, but the party will be Sunday the 28th (at noon if you're interested). It should be pretty fun. We're going to have brats, burgers, and Tony Paco's dogs. If you've never had a Paco's dog, you're really missing out. It's a Toledo based resturant. YUM. Of course we'll have cake and other bad for you foods. (We're taking a break from our diet.)

In theaters, there are three movies coming up in the next few weeks. This weekend, The Davinci Code will be in theaters. I've read the book and it was pretty good. It should make a good movie. If you've never read the book, it's got all of the elements to make a good movie: action, intrigue, sexual undertones, and it's got Tom Hanks as the star and Ron Howard as the director. That alone should make the movie worth the time. I'm not sure if we will be able to make it out though. Memorial weekend, X-Men 3 will be coming out. It looks pretty good. All of the original cast is returning in the third installment of the X-Men movie series. I've seen a few commercials, but have not seen the trailer yet. Finally, Cars is going to be out in early June. It is a Disney/Pixar movie about cars that are alive. I've seen a few commercials and think that Gabriel will LOVE it. He likes cars and he lokes cartoons. It's really a sure thing that he will want to see this. I may wait for the DVD for this one too. Gabe's attention span is that of a four year old's. Oh year...he IS four. Makes sense.

I was also thinking of having a just friends cookout/poker/Xbox/whatever party sometime in the near future. I'd like to invite my highschool, college, and work friends. That's alot of people, but I think we have enough room with the new house. The patio will help, just so long as the weather is nice. Of course, all of my faithful readers would be invited. I'm thinking, probably Late June or sometime in July. Of course, it could be hotter than heck by then. We'll see. Maybe I should wait until September..... When could y'all make it?

NetFlix screw up

As you may know, I use NetFlix for my DVD rental needs. Lately, I have been getting Star Trek Voyager DVDs. They generally include four episodes per DVD. That means that I have four hours of background noise while I work. Well, instead of sending the next three Voyager DVDs, as listed on my queue, NetFLEX sent me three cinema movies. They were on my list, but we not at the top of the list. They sent The Devil's Rejects, Hostle, and The Incredibles is on the way. I need to check the web site to see if there is a way I can complain. The problem is, if I get a movie that Jessica wants to see, I need to wait until she watches it before I send it back. I need to send movies back in order to get new movies. Since we've been watching back episodes of the Sopranos together, I've been getting Star Trek DVDs for while I work. Now, I need to hold on to Hostle and The Incredibles until the weekend we that we can all watch them. Oh well. This is the first screw up I can report in regards to NetFlix. I've been thrilled with the service.

I figured that Jessica wouldn't want to watch The Devil's Rejects, so I watched it yesterday. It's Rob Zombie's second movie, a sequil to House of 1000 Corpses. We didn't like 1000 Corpses too much, but I had heard that The Devil's Rejects was better. It was, but not too much. Basically, House of 1000 Corpses is about a bass-ackwards, hill-jack family that lifes in BFE Texas, and the capture people and kill them. It was pretty gruesome, but also a bit silly and wierd. The highlight of the film was Zombie's wife, who is hot. She plays one of the crazy psych killers. Picture Jessica Simpson's Daisy Duke, only mean. She's in The Devil's Rejects too. The movie continues the story from the end of 1000 Corpses. There is more plot and action, and less sillyness. It's a pretty gross film and is definately NOT one to watch with the kiddies. I made sure that Alydia was napping and Gabriel was playing in the basement when I watched it. The first hour is good, then it gets a little stupid for about a half hour, but the end is OK, if not predictable. If you are into slasher films, with realistic effects, this is a pretty good film to watch. I was grossed out a few times.

Is 127 good?

I took an IQ test through TickleTest.com (I think that's what the site was called) and I scored a 127. I guess that's about average. Not too sure though. I think anything less than 80 is 'mentally challenged'. It was a free test, but it asked for money after you took the test so that you could get your 'full IQ results'. I didn't pay, but had fun taking the test. It said that I am good with problem solving.

Diet Update....The Incredible Shrinking Eric

It's been a while since I've posted about the diet that I'm on. If you don't remember, I am doing the South Beach Diet. For two weeks, you go carb-free so that your body can flush out the sugars in your system. It rough the first few days, I'm not going to lie, but after that, it gets easier. After the first two weeks, you get to start adding 'good' carbs to your meals. This means whole grains. What you cannot eat is sugar and anything made with white flour. That means pasta, bread, potatoes, and grain alcohol (beer). After a while, you really don't miss those foods too much. What you do eat is alot of protein and fiber. You can have eggs, bacon, any meat, almost any veggies (no corn).... So, I have alot of salads, steaks, chicken, and then throw in some grain rice and such. It's not too bad. There are South Beach foods sold in the stores, including crackers and cookies. Nuts are also fine. For your sweet tooth, you can have sugar free pudding and jello. It's similar to the Adkins diet, but not quite as strict. One thing that is good is that after the first week or so, you drop about five pounds from water retention. Junk food and sugars make your body hold more water, so you pee it all out once you start eating the right foods.

Well, after last week and all of the 'comfort foods' I at while up in Toledo, I went up a few pounds. Due to the added stress of Jessica's grandma's illness,we were also drinking a bit more (hard alcohol is OK. Like vodka and whiskey) which made me eat too many snacks. After hitting the diet again, I am back to losing more weight. I am also getting outside alot more doing yard work. SO, the number you are all waiting for: I am still not low enough to tell everyone how much I actually weigh, but I have lost somewhere between 40 and 50 pounds. It was like I was carrying Gabriel around all the time. It's amazing how much weight you can gain if you don't really pay attention to what you eat. I'm still heavier than my college weight and much higher than my high school weight. My goal is to get back to my high school weight. I know I'll always be big, but I can't be this big.

Sorry, it's been a while.......

Wow, it's been two weeks since my last post. Sorry to my loyal reader. It's been a busy couple of weeks. We were back and forth to my parent's house in Monvlova (near Toledo) because Jessica's grandma was sick and passed away last week. We went the first weekend because she was in the hospital and the outlook was not good. Last weekend we went up for the funeral. It was a sad time. I'm glad that we were able to get up there though. It was a wierd experience for me. We were all in the hospital room and Jessica's grandma took a serious decline (her blood pressure was low and she was having trouble breathing), so everyone sorta started to urge her into the light, if you catch my meaning. It was a little morbid. I won't get into it too much, because it is sort of a personal time for people and I don't think I should broadcast about it on the net any more than I already have. It was just a strange experience for me. Of course, Jessica's grandma lasted several more days. She was a tough lady. Nice too.

Well, enough of that. I was really busy after we got home Saturday evening. I mowed the grass and started some projects out in the yard. Sunday we bought some flowers to plan in the yard. I planted a few bushes and planned where my garden will be. The biggest project was putting down a stone landing at the foot of my patio steps. I put down about 130 square stones. There were about six inches wide, so it's not like I broke my back carrying the things. It looks good though. Oh, my fence is up around my back yard too. It looks really good. I had grand plans about flower beds all over the place, but time and money constraints will limit what all I do.

The worst part about this time of year is that I ALWAYS get poison something (either ivy, oak, or sumac). I just need to touch it once and I get a rash all over. It get into my system and I get rashes all over the place. It's not too bad this year, but it's irritating. I just don't know where I got it from. I guess I have some in my back yard somewhere. Grrrrr..... Remember, leaves of three, leave it be!

Star Trek Hotties

After my last, totally depressing post, I thought I'd try to lighten things up a bit. I recently added Star Trek Voyager, season 1, to my NetFlix queue and was reminded of two things: 1. the show is excellent 2. Kes is hot. Anyway, I began to think about the women of Star Trek history and thought I'd give you, in my opinion, the top three hotties from each series:

Star Trek (the original)
1. the blonde Yeoman that always brought Kirk things to sign (I forget her name)
2. the green alien seductress (again, I forget the name of the species, but always wondered why they were never in any of the newer series.)
3. Uhura
honorable mention: any female crew member in those short short skirts ("You could almost see the giblets." -Larry the Cable Guy)

TNG
1. Tasha Yar
2. Deanna Troi
3. Dr. Chrusher
honorable mention: the entire species of sex hungry, scantally clad women in that episode where Wesley Crusher was sentenced to death for falling in some flowers.

DS9
1. Jadzia Dax
2. Kira Nerys
3. Dabo Girls!!
honorable mention: Ezri Dax. Cute, but no one can truely replace the original Dax.

Voyager
1. Seven of Nine
2. Kes
3. B'elanna Torres
honorable mention: Captain Janeway

Enterprise
1. T'Pol
2. T'Pol
3. T'Pol (she's really attractive)
honorable mention: Hoshi Sato

Hall of Fame top three:
1. T'Pol
2. Seven of Nine
3. Dax (the original)

Any disagreements or anyone that I forgot to mention?

Sad News

Hey all you AWHS alumni, I got some sad new yesterday. My mom called to wish us a Happy Easter and then followed that right up by telling me that Don Voss (Tim's dad) died last Wednesday. I guess it was ruled that he had a heart attach while driving and then had an accident. I think he ran into a building or something. If you don't know Mr. Voss, he was a really nice guy and helped teach percussion at Anthony Wayne High School. He also came down for alot of the OSU football games and went to all of the OSU Marching Band shows that he could. So, keep his family in your thoughts.

Sorry for bringing everyone down. In the future, I will try to lighten things up a bit.

Good Times

So, I'm in a pretty good mood today. Sure, I have to work ten hours in my basement, but that's OK. The past few days have been very nice outside. 75 degrees and sunny. Spring is definately my favorite time of the year. The weather is nice, trees are turning green, plants are popping up, and there are no bugs yet. I hate bugs. The only negative is all the weeds I have coming up all over the place. Oh well. I bought some bushes: two roses, red and black raspberries, and a blueberry. I also have started some flower and herb seeds (I love fresh herbs. Rosemary, basil, dill, cilantro and chives). I think I need to throttle down though. My plans for my back yard may be exceeding the amount of time I have to actually work in my yard. Plus, my budget is not a big as I'd like. Well, when my fence is finally installed, I was going to put flower beds all around the place. I would need to take a full week off to acomplish what I would want to. So, I will just plant my bushes and put in my vegetable garden in. I'll put off the rest of my plans for next spring. Another part of the problem is that I have no idea what is coming up in my yard. We moved in September 1st last year, so we missed almost all of the plants that are coming up. It looks like we have tulips all over the place. I like tulips, but may have to remove some of them due to their placement. Anyway, I guess my point is I need to wait and see what is going one back there before I plant more stuff. The roses and raspberries were necessities though. They are both favorites of mine. I also bought some strawberries to put in planters on my deck. Mmmmmmm....Berries.

Another part of why I am happy is because I was able to get all of the Sopranos DVDs at a fair price. I got seasons 1 and 2 on Ebay for $30 each. I started bidding on 3 and 4, but noticed that I probably would have to schell out $40 or so for these DVD sets, so I thought I'd check WalMart and see their prices. I'd seen the DVDs at target and Best Buy for about $90 each, but found them at Wally World for $50 (seasons 3 and 4) and $60 (season 5). I snatched them up. Yes, it's more than I'd have paid on Ebay, but I am an instant gratification kind of guy. Impulse buying is the term. Regardless, I now have all of the DVDs and am happy.

Ebay Oops

Somehow I screwed up and bought two copies of the Sopranos season 2 DVD box set on Ebay. I thought I had lost the first box set I bid on, but I guess not. So, now I have two sets, one new one used, on the way. I'm glad that I won at least one of the auctions, but who really needs two sets of the same DVD set? I may re-sell one of the sets on Ebay but thought I'd throw out the offer to my faithful blog reader. If he hasn't stopped reading this pile of dog poo. I know, more than one person reads my blog, I'm just being funny(ish). Anyway, I paid $30 and will gladly sell it to someone for the same price. I'll even give the new set rather than the used one. Let me know if you are interested. Otherwise, I'll just throw it back on Ebay. If you don't watch the Sopranos, I suggest you start. It's pretty good.

Don't call is a come back....

So, I hosted a poker game last night. It wasn't a huge game, but 12 people showed up to play. It was a good amount. We started out with two tables and I was doing well. Things turned ugly when I bet big with two kings and was trounced by three aces. I started to play really tight so that I would be able to stay in the game for as long as possible. Nothing is worse than hosting a poker game and getting knocked out early. We went down to one table when we got down to nine players and I was low stack in the chip category. The blinds were coming around to me and $200 and $400, and I had $365 left. If you don't know poker, blinds are forced bets that are made by the two people to the left of the dealer. So, when the big blind rolled my way (at $400) I was forced to put all of my remaining chips in the pot. I was 'all in'. Everyone was waiting for the enevitable conclusion that I was out. Well, I was dealt two aces and won the hand. I now had over $800 in chips. Still not great, but I was going to be able to hang around for a while. The next hand (I was in the small blind of $200) I was dealt two nines. I played the hand and two other people stayed in with me. When a third nine came up on the flop, I went all in again and won another hand, bumping me up to over $2400 chips. Now I'm in business and I eliminated another player. I'll make a long story short by telling you that I was low stack with nine players left at the table and was able to fight back to take second place. I'd like to say it was skill, but the truth is that I got lucky and hit big hands when I needed to. Still, it was a great game or me and a good time was had by all.

Be sure to check out pictures of Amy and Johnny's baby boy. Congrats to mom and dad.

Don't call is a come back....

So, I hosted a poker game last night. It wasn't a huge game, but 12 people showed up to play. It was a good amount. We started out with two tables and I was doing well. Things turned ugly when I bet big with two kings and was trounced by three aces. I started to play really tight so that I would be able to stay in the game for as long as possible. Nothing is worse than hosting a poker game and getting knocked out early. We went down to one table when we got down to nine players and I was low stack in the chip category. The blinds were coming around to me and $200 and $400, and I had $365 left. If you don't know poker, blinds are forced bets that are made by the two people to the left of the dealer. So, when the big blind rolled my way (at $400) I was forced to put all of my remaining chips in the pot. I was 'all in'. Everyone was waiting for the enevitable conclusion that I was out. Well, I was dealt two aces and won the hand. I now had over $800 in chips. Still not great, but I was going to be able to hang around for a while. The next hand (I was in the small blind of $200) I was dealt two nines. I played the hand and two other people stayed in with me. When a third nine came up on the flop, I went all in again and won another hand, bumping me up to over $2400 chips. Now I'm in business and I eliminated another player. I'll make a long story short by telling you that I was low stack with nine players left at the table and was able to fight back to take second place. I'd like to say it was skill, but the truth is that I got lucky and hit big hands when I needed to. Still, it was a great game or me and a good time was had by all.

Be sure to check out pictures of Amy and Johnny's baby boy. Congrats to mom and dad.

Pussy, Pussy, Pussy......

No, I'm not morphing my blog into an adult site. We will try to stay PG-13 on 'I Gotta Name This?'. I may drop an occasional F-bomb or escriment explative, but I will leave the nudity and adult content to the 95% of the internet that already has that market cornered. The title of this post references to my newest NetFlix DVD obsession. No, not porn! I thought I already covered that! Besides, I don't think you can get porn on NetFlix. I'm talking about the greatest crime show ever created (except maybe for TJ Hooker...not): The Sopranos. Many people I work with and hang out with have talked about the Sopranos in the past, and rather than getting HBO for one show, I decided to give the mob show hit a try on NetFlix. Let me tell you, it is one of the best shows I have ever seen. BSG is still my favorite, but the Sopranos is a close number two. I've been through seasons one and two, and am half way though season three. It is very addictive, like TV crack. Season one kind of set things up for you and was kinda slow, but seasons two and three are action packed. If you don't know, the Sopranos is about a New Jersey mob family. It is interesting because, instead of just focusing on the crimes and other things generally associated with the mob, The Sopranos takes a look at the family and social aspects of the Soprano family. For example, one of the main stories is about Tony (the boss) having anxiety attacks, so he starts going to a psychiatrist, but not like Analize This funny ha ha stuff. Anyways, back to the title fo this post. Pussy is the nick name of one of the family's capitans and the god father of Tony's kids. In other words, he's close to Tony. Well, Pussy gets busted for selling heroin and makes a deal with the FBI so that he can stay out of jail. Tony finds out and Pussy gets wacked. Now, you kow a show is great when you can say, "I can't believe that Tony wacked Pussy," with no sexual meaning what-so-ever. It was sorta like in The God Father when Anthony had to wack Fredo. Very moving. Honestly, The Sopranos has everything that a guy would want in a show: comedy, action, hot women, drama, great actors, and they hang out in a topless bar half of the time. The only thing that puts BSG above the Sopranos is the kick ass effects in BSG. So, if you have never seen The Sopranos, I give it my full endorsement. Be warned, there is some very graphic sceenes of sex and violence, so if you are faint of heart, you may want to skip this show.

The Big Ten a Big Bust

Well, the NCAA tourney is over for me. All of the Big Ten teams are out after the second round of play. OSU was last to fall, only because their second round game was played late in the weekend. So, I'm done with the tourney. There's always next year. Now I need to wait six months until NCAA fotball starts up. I'll go through sports withdrawals for a while, but will be OK.

Princess Poo Poo

I'm sure some day Alydia will hate us for one of her current nicknames, butthat's what therapists are for. Here's a current picture for y'all to brighten your day. Ain't she cute?

We're Dancin'

I'm talking about the Big Dance. The NCAA tourney. March Madness. Ohio State will be in the mix when it comes down to the NCAA Tournament for the basketball national title. Both the men's team and the women's team are looked at as favorites to go far into the NCAA tourney this year. Both teams have won the regular season Big Ten Conference Titles and the women have won the Big Ten Tournament. Both teams have 20+ wins seasons and both teams are ranked in the top ten nationally for the first time that I can remember. The women have been doing well in the past years, but the men haven't done too much since the last time they made it to the Final Four way back in the day(2000) maybe? Both teams should be a number 2 or 3 seed and there is some talk that, if they can win the Big Ten Tournament, the men could be a number 1 seed. Everyone was talking about next year, when OSU would get their great freshmen recruits, for the men to make a run in the tournament but it looks like everyone underestimated second year coach Thad Matta. It is amazing that the men are in the top ten and are the team to beat from the Big Ten. Their wins include victories over Michigan State, Ilinois, Indiana, and Iowa (plus sweeping the boys from up north) and their four losses were by a combined 15 points. Their worst loss was by 10, so that means they were five points from a one loss season and being in the top five. Now, to be honest, I don't follow the women's team much, but I have been watching as many of the men's games as I could this season. They have a good mis of outside shooting and an inside game that can pick up the slack if the three ball doesn't fall. Add that to a stingy defense, and you get a team that could go to the Final Four. It's all very exciting. First, we need to look to the Big Ten Tourney, where the Bucks will play either Northwestern or Penn State this tomorrow at noon. Plerrt exciting stuff. Go Bucks!

Excited about gardening.

I know, I know. It's not what one would expect from me, but it's true. I like doing landscaping stuff. I used to have an uphill battle at our old house because the yard was pretty over grown with weeds and had too many trees. All I could plant were shade plants. I have less trees now and more sun, so my options are unlimited. I got a magazine with a bunch of plants I can order. It made me all excited about all of the different things I wanted to do in the back yard. I need to wait until we get our fence up though. We have a lot of rabbits around here, so a fence is needed for plant protection. I'll probably need to take a few days off in the spring so that I can get everything planted. Lots of work. It's fun though.

Jessica Alba is HOT.

My latest NetFlix movie was Into the Blue. It is about a couple that lives in The Bahamas and the guy is into looking for sunken treasure. He's poor, so he has shitty equipment, but he's dating Jessica Alba's character, so why would he care? All I have to say is, slow motion swimming in a thong..... There was more to the movie than that, of course, but if you like Jessica Alba, she is smokin' in this flim. There is some good action and the story is pretty good too. I wouldn't put in my top ten favorites, but I'm not regretting using up a NetFlix rental to watch this movie. The acting isn't great (the two male characters are from 90120, I think) but I was able to get past that.

I also watched The Children of Dune, a mini series that was on Sci Fi. I liked Dune, both the origonal film and the Sci Fi channel remake, but Children of Dune left me a bit disappointed. The main character of Dune, Paul, up and leaves his throne (he's the emporor of the universe) and wanders off into the dessert. It had a bunch of wierd things happen and odd subplots, and the ending was kinda dumb. I was actually a little angry after seeing this mini series because Dune was such a neat story. I think they tried to cram two long books into the mini series, so maybe they had to leave alot of important info on the cutting room floor. I guess it was interesting enough, but I was not pleased overall. I guess my stardards have gone up after watching season 1 of the Sopranos. Now, THAT is a good show.